This game seems like fun but beware, the community will be will very rude to you if you haven't somehow managed to get good at the game without ever having played it. I received so much abuse from other players that I had to quit out. It could have been because I chose one of the most important characters and my ineptness was causing people to lost the game, but still...

This is the crack cocaine equivalent of a videogame. It is addictive because of the mix of uncertainty of who you will be facing, combined with high adrenaline button mashing. APM matters, but after 40 minutes it is just as easy to find a very frustrating defeat as glorious victory. This keeps me coming for more, but after a few days I find that there's no real fun in this game just theThis is the crack cocaine equivalent of a videogame. It is addictive because of the mix of uncertainty of who you will be facing, combined with high adrenaline button mashing. APM matters, but after 40 minutes it is just as easy to find a very frustrating defeat as glorious victory. This keeps me coming for more, but after a few days I find that there's no real fun in this game just the same addictive mechanics over and over again. I'm forced to play the hero I'm best at, not the hero I like, or the team loses, and there's nothing fun about losing. Speaking of this, there's nothing fun about winning either. At least LOL had leveling system where there's some reward for winning. This is just addictive.…Expand

This is by far Valve's best F2P game so far, way better than Team Fortress 2 and Alien Swarm combined, and even better than League of Legends. It may not be Steam's biggest game or PC's biggest online game, but this one has some great potential even with the great tutorials, skirmish plays, online plays, graphics, mechanics and the elements. Even better, there's no need to pay for gettingThis is by far Valve's best F2P game so far, way better than Team Fortress 2 and Alien Swarm combined, and even better than League of Legends. It may not be Steam's biggest game or PC's biggest online game, but this one has some great potential even with the great tutorials, skirmish plays, online plays, graphics, mechanics and the elements. Even better, there's no need to pay for getting and playing a better hero and of course there are lots of choices and options to choose for a hero except for paying the clothing. This game could be more worth the sequel if more map types and modes are added similar to LoL.…Expand

I can see that Dota 2 is definitely a great game but to be honest its not my cup of tea. The number of gameplay options is immense with so many heroes to pick and the number is slowly increasing. The graphics and sound is also great. My main issue with this game however, is the community. If you're just getting into the game be warned that the community will eat you alive. The last timeI can see that Dota 2 is definitely a great game but to be honest its not my cup of tea. The number of gameplay options is immense with so many heroes to pick and the number is slowly increasing. The graphics and sound is also great. My main issue with this game however, is the community. If you're just getting into the game be warned that the community will eat you alive. The last time I played a match I was abused to hell. Not going to play this again I'd think.…Expand

I've few hundreds hours of LoL, few dozens hours in HoN, and few hundreds of Dota 2. It was fun, until I had time for such things and friends who liked to play one and the same map for hours. Eventually, you grow up to hate this games. Full of people who even refuse to communicate in english on english speaking servers. Dota 2 is yet just another reincarnation of a simple mod to warcraftI've few hundreds hours of LoL, few dozens hours in HoN, and few hundreds of Dota 2. It was fun, until I had time for such things and friends who liked to play one and the same map for hours. Eventually, you grow up to hate this games. Full of people who even refuse to communicate in english on english speaking servers. Dota 2 is yet just another reincarnation of a simple mod to warcraft 3, but with worse graphics, terrible interface and genius ****-milking policy. You have to give Valve that. A pile of retextured items who barely make difference in the looks of characters for 15 euros. Nice.…Expand

Wasn't sure what to think about this game when alex introduced it to me. I found it hard to believe that there were league and championships dedicated to play this let alone the hype behind it, though that could be my doupts due to it's link with blizzard.

It's very fun and here Valve are just laughing at the bank with the game as people loved the origonal so much. In this case, youWasn't sure what to think about this game when alex introduced it to me. I found it hard to believe that there were league and championships dedicated to play this let alone the hype behind it, though that could be my doupts due to it's link with blizzard.

It's very fun and here Valve are just laughing at the bank with the game as people loved the origonal so much. In this case, you might as well just give your money to valve, it's making that much. Very fun RPG, yet hard to explain. You get to pick a character, level him/her/it up and the objective is to destroy the enemy base.

Each base creates small creatures called "creeps" and you gain gold for xp by killing creeps and destroying towers. In this case the creeps are red-shirts, running into battle and no real loss when they die. You can download it for free, spectator a match and see what you think. what do you have to lose?

Since then they've exited beta and now you can take on a tutorial to learn more about the game rarther than put up with the difficult learning curve that I had to suffer with having never touched Dota2 before.…Expand

HOW I RATE: 10-9 score: perfect or near-perfect don't exist; 8 score: one of the best games ever. Top score; 7-6 score: great but not one of the best; 5-below score: serious flaws.
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It may have not started the MOBA gender when it first came out as a custom map for Warcraft 3 in 2003 (because the custom map for StarCraft 1 called Aeons of Strife did that) but it's the KING ofHOW I RATE: 10-9 score: perfect or near-perfect don't exist; 8 score: one of the best games ever. Top score; 7-6 score: great but not one of the best; 5-below score: serious flaws.
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It may have not started the MOBA gender when it first came out as a custom map for Warcraft 3 in 2003 (because the custom map for StarCraft 1 called Aeons of Strife did that) but it's the KING of moba & also the hardest to master. I've played it since late 2009.

My only problem with this game is the low priority thing: you cannot teach players how to behave, Valve. You are definetely not encouraging players to come back with this heavy LP law. People are not bad by nature, don't punish them. In a 45 minute to sometimes over an hour match life could call at any moment: wife pregnant, feeder ruining the game or whatever - people naturally want to leave if there's a problem. You are encouraging bad behaviour actually with LP and let's not mention that people in LP can't leave the game safely if someone else does - remove it entirely.…Expand

I'm sorry Valve but I gave HL2 a 100/100 but Dota 2 is not good enough. Go play League Of Legands. (Yes I will review that after this review.) So Dota 2 is basically LOL but it's £25 and I got it for FREE becuase I got given it by a fan. So Dota 2 is nothing speacal. It's graphics look okay. It's runs okay. It plays okay. So I bet your wondering why I gave it a 5. Becuase you play £25 forI'm sorry Valve but I gave HL2 a 100/100 but Dota 2 is not good enough. Go play League Of Legands. (Yes I will review that after this review.) So Dota 2 is basically LOL but it's £25 and I got it for FREE becuase I got given it by a fan. So Dota 2 is nothing speacal. It's graphics look okay. It's runs okay. It plays okay. So I bet your wondering why I gave it a 5. Becuase you play £25 for it then you have to buy characters which are like £5 each. No Valve just no.

Overall
-You Have To Pay For A F2P
-Characters Cost REAL Money
-You Have To Pay For A F2P
Score 54/100…Expand

This game has an insane learning curve. If it's your first time playing an action RTS style game then it will take you ~200 games just to be decent and that's if you watch pro games and actively work on improving your play. Of course you can approach the game casually as well but you will be missing out the insane depth and complexity of the game. This game really shines when two evenlyThis game has an insane learning curve. If it's your first time playing an action RTS style game then it will take you ~200 games just to be decent and that's if you watch pro games and actively work on improving your play. Of course you can approach the game casually as well but you will be missing out the insane depth and complexity of the game. This game really shines when two evenly matched teams battle it out for 40-60 minutes where everybody gives it their all and works together as a team. Those matches are rare though and they have nearly become extinct with Valve's changes to matchmaking. The reason I gave this game a 7/10 instead of a 10/10 isn't because of the gameplay itself, it's because of Valve's current direction they are taking the game. The mute system and recent matchmaking issues have negatively impacted my dota experience to the where I no longer play the game. After 3 months of bumbling around Valve finally improved the mute system but now the matchmaking problems have taken center-stage. Maybe once they iron out all the wrinkles I will return to this great action rts.…Expand

Not the greatest game of all time, but probably the most legit MOBA out there, a hundred times deeper and smarter than League of Legends. The community is still horrible, mainly composed by lobotomized fanboys and but beside this, the game has hours of fun to offer.
If you are into the online gaming, DotA 2 may be an interesting game to play.
6/10 because not my kind of game, but a MOBANot the greatest game of all time, but probably the most legit MOBA out there, a hundred times deeper and smarter than League of Legends. The community is still horrible, mainly composed by lobotomized fanboys and but beside this, the game has hours of fun to offer.
If you are into the online gaming, DotA 2 may be an interesting game to play.
6/10 because not my kind of game, but a MOBA player would probably give it a 8-9.…Expand

LOL fanboys, get the out. The game may not be innovating, the game may not worth the time waiting, but it's fun and entertaining. and it definitely deserves more than 0s. So why don't you douche bags go masturbating and let the ones that really played it give it a score?

I honestly don't understand all of the hype around this game or its main competitor LoL (which I haven't played). I got in to the Beta for this out of curiosity having never played a MOBA game before.

I think the game would be more like an 8 if all of the items were removed as they seem be the main cause of heavy imbalances. It hasn't pulled me in, having only one map is a downer,I honestly don't understand all of the hype around this game or its main competitor LoL (which I haven't played). I got in to the Beta for this out of curiosity having never played a MOBA game before.

I think the game would be more like an 8 if all of the items were removed as they seem be the main cause of heavy imbalances. It hasn't pulled me in, having only one map is a downer, it's free, the art work is good but I don't play much because its repetitive and gets dull fast *shrug*.

Oh, if it's not to late to add, people calling it the "deepest most meaningful pvp experience" is just wrong. Play a full loot pvp game for meaningful pvp (like EVE).…Expand

After I saw this game was free on Steam, I decided what could be the harm? As I had never played any games in the same genre, this was something new. At first, I did not like it. I didn't 'get it.' After I forced myself to get past the beginning, it was quite an enjoyable experience. While not the best game I have ever played, it is still very good and in-depth.

Very overrated game. For being supposedly one of the most played games on steam, it has THE WORST match making system I HAVE EVER SEEN. EVER. IN THE HISTORY OF EVERDOM.

It takes on average around 15-20 minutes just to start a game, sometimes closer to 30 minutes. This is because it usually takes around the 7-10 minute range to find a lobby, and 50% of the time from there someoneVery overrated game. For being supposedly one of the most played games on steam, it has THE WORST match making system I HAVE EVER SEEN. EVER. IN THE HISTORY OF EVERDOM.

It takes on average around 15-20 minutes just to start a game, sometimes closer to 30 minutes. This is because it usually takes around the 7-10 minute range to find a lobby, and 50% of the time from there someone either drops out or leaves, causing the whole process to start over again. Compare this to LoL where it takes probably around a minute on average to find and start a game.

So you'd think with all that time being spent finding people to match with it would be due to the complex algorithms being performed on the back end for their magnificent matchmaking system, right?

WRONG

I've never even SEEN a matchmaking system more broken. Every god damn game of Dota 2 is a steamroll for one side. If you're winning it just gets easy as hell and you can play as sloppy as you want. If you're losing there is pretty much nothing you can do to make a comeback, and you're then forced to watch the other team toy with you instead of ending the game. And you can't agree to a surrender in like oh I don't know EVERY OTHER MOBA GAME EVER MADE. Seriously.. why the can't your team agree to a surrender? Why do you have to just sit there while the other team kills you IN YOUR FOUNTAIN? You can't leave the game because you basically are tracked for games you leave, so what are you forced to do after this game you already spent 20 minutes waiting for and 50 minutes playing a lopsided unfun steamroll on? Wait 10 more minutes and just watch the other team toy with you, like happens every god damn game.

Horribly horribly inexcusable to not have a surrender option. The lack of a surrender, long match making times, and horrible match making of skill is where I downrate this game mostly. The other reasons I downrate it are the before mentioned horrible snowballing this game employs. If anyone on a team feeds AT ALL it's GAME OVER. disgraceful.

The other thing is the game simply is laughably imbalanced. For instance, some characters just suck complete ass, like the brood mother. You can't ever use her spiderling skill because a.) they aren't even that good, but more importantly b.) They give the enemy experience when they die, and most importantly c.) They give the enemy gold when they die. Considering how weak they are, any decent AOE spell is going to kill em all and put the enemy WAY ahead of you, like basically a heroe kill's worth of gold and exp. It's ridiculous. And it's pointless to use the spiders in any other way than bunched up, because on their own they can't do ****

Compare that to a phantom lancers illusions which give NO GOLD and basically NO EXP when killed, yet they are probably close to 100x more useful than a spiderling. SO MUCH SENSE BEING MADE BY THIS GAME.

And you can easily see on the stats that the game is horribly imbalanced, broodmother has something like a 37% win rate, so I have facts to back up my statements. THAT IS NOT A SIGN OF A WELL-BALANCED GAME PEOPLE.

Aside from all that the game plays well, a lot of the heroes actually are designed well, such as spirit breaker and pudge. The game requires much more skill than LoL to play which is something that I like. Landing a Pudge hook from long range or concealed areas is infinitely cooler than landing any skillshot in LoL, and the heroes are much more dynamic in their move sets.…Expand

Dota 2 isn't a bad game at all. The graphics are a bit dated, but gameplay trumps graphics and the gameplay here is outstanding. The interface is fairly well executed, shaving a bit off the otherwise steep learning curve that comes with every moba.

Three points off, though, for the community. The diehard players of Dota 2 are egotistical babies with absolutely nothing redeeming enoughDota 2 isn't a bad game at all. The graphics are a bit dated, but gameplay trumps graphics and the gameplay here is outstanding. The interface is fairly well executed, shaving a bit off the otherwise steep learning curve that comes with every moba.

Three points off, though, for the community. The diehard players of Dota 2 are egotistical babies with absolutely nothing redeeming enough to their personalities to be egotistical about. Barely literate as a whole, the community of Dota 2 is among the cruelest to "noobs" I've ever seen, regularly threatening to murder people over a mishandled strategy in some of the most poorly worded, grammatically butchered threats I've ever seen. To put it another way, about the only thing these dorks are educated in is Dota 2, leaving things like "English," "bathing," and "communication skills" on the wayside. If there were a way to separate Dota 2, the game, from the Dota 2 community, perfection would be around the corner. Unfortunately, the former comes with the latter, and the results are pathetic.…Expand

Best moba I've ever played, ruined by broken marchmaking and absence of different game modes.

+ Amazing visuals
+ Very smooth gameplay
+ Item drops
+ Great hero designs.
+ Hardcore team play.
- Outright broken matchmaking system will drive you nuts.
- There is only one map, one game mode. There are some different hero-picking drafts thats all.
- The worst community ever. VeryBest moba I've ever played, ruined by broken marchmaking and absence of different game modes.

+ Amazing visuals
+ Very smooth gameplay
+ Item drops
+ Great hero designs.
+ Hardcore team play.
- Outright broken matchmaking system will drive you nuts.
- There is only one map, one game mode. There are some different hero-picking drafts thats all.
- The worst community ever. Very toxic, there is at least one troll, feeder or leaver in every match.
- Sometimes too punishing, and so damn less rewarding.
- Very addicting.

Give it a try if you didn't already, but don't let it get to you, it will drain your sanity away.…Expand

This is one of the most difficult multi-player games you will ever play. The people who tell you otherwise are probably doing it wrong. The game play is solid, and the mechanics are balanced properly. For the most part any hero in the game is capable of defeating any other hero in the game if the two players are equally skilled. It's very balanced in that respect. It is also a fun game ifThis is one of the most difficult multi-player games you will ever play. The people who tell you otherwise are probably doing it wrong. The game play is solid, and the mechanics are balanced properly. For the most part any hero in the game is capable of defeating any other hero in the game if the two players are equally skilled. It's very balanced in that respect. It is also a fun game if you can get past the culture, attitude, arrogance, and hostility that people bring to the game.

That problem is it's very hard to get past that part. This game is full of the most hateful, immature, ignorant people you will ever find in any MMO game, period. I played WoW for over a year, I played SW: TOR, I have played several random "web-based" games where you also expect the bottom of the barrel in terms of users and community, but every horrid online community I've ever seen pales in comparison to this. You may think I'm exaggerating, but if you can put 10-20 hours into this game without being called newb, baddie, or told to go kill yourself/uninstall, then I'm envious of you. That doesn't even cover the harassment and berating you will receive from your own team no matter how new you are, or how hard you are trying. If you make a mistake prepare to pay for it in hateful comments from your own team, up to and including calling you every imaginable name over mic and in chat.

The majority of players on US servers at certain times are foreign and cannot speak English, and Valve has decided to ignore this problem and believe me, it's a huge problem in a game that requires communication which only adds to the overall hate and frustration level. Russians are the biggest problem on US servers right now and if you happen to offend one of them, regardless of which team this person is on, they will almost certainly ask the other Russians in the game, again regardless of team, to report you. You have no recourse and the process is semi-automated. You will receive mutes from Valve after you accumulate enough reports the validity of which makes no difference.

I have just spent two paragraphs warning you of what you are getting into, while only devoting one paragraph to the nice parts of this game. Make of that what you will, but if you do decide to play this game, I advice muting everyone before the match even begins including your own team. It's your own team that will berate and harass you with the most racist and hateful speech you can imagine much more often than the opposing team. Score-wise I gave it a 6 because I think it represents exactly what I'm trying to say this game is fantastic, but the community and players are not. Half and half.

I would also like to add that I am near 200 total wins, with a winning percentage around .433. I am not new nor am I offended by the overall experience, but it is indeed a negative experience as far as the community goes. I subject myself to the player interactions because I can (usually) take it in stride, mute the player, and move on. If you don't have a thick skin though, this game is not for you.…Expand

Didn't really like the game all that much, the graphics are somewhat dounting, my eyes get tired of playing it more then 10 mins, the models are too wierd for me, none of them make sense, the only models i like are those of humans and guys like headhunter and bloodseeker, the rest are simply... not cool, and the factor that in a teamplay based game teamplay itself doesn't matter all thatDidn't really like the game all that much, the graphics are somewhat dounting, my eyes get tired of playing it more then 10 mins, the models are too wierd for me, none of them make sense, the only models i like are those of humans and guys like headhunter and bloodseeker, the rest are simply... not cool, and the factor that in a teamplay based game teamplay itself doesn't matter all that much is pretty horrible, 1 guy if fed can simply own 1 vs 5 and no one can do anything about it, if youre layed back theres no way to keep up.
I wont rate it 0 though cause only overly dumb people do that, if you rate 0 that means every single aspect of this game is awful, but thats just not true. The mechanics are neat, the animations and effects are good, but the gameplay itself thats what i didn't like, and the models... those nasty models!…Expand

I am use to playing FPS games COD, Battlefield,Soldierfront and all my mates told me to give this game ago and i watched a few videos on it and thought it was rubbish but one day i downloaded it as my mates were very pertistent and let me tell you its one of the best games ive played by far! i have racked up 1220 hours on this game already in about 7 months and play it everyday just aboutI am use to playing FPS games COD, Battlefield,Soldierfront and all my mates told me to give this game ago and i watched a few videos on it and thought it was rubbish but one day i downloaded it as my mates were very pertistent and let me tell you its one of the best games ive played by far! i have racked up 1220 hours on this game already in about 7 months and play it everyday just about with my mates. so much strategy involved and alot of fun once you get past the first few bad games you have. trust me give this game a go you wont play anything else i promise. add me on steam and i can give anyone a hand if they want :Dord. good luck and have fun playing see you in there!…Expand

This is still the best MOBA/Team Brawler out there. Personally I'm ready for a new game to take this genre to the next level but for now DOTA 2 is on top. Also I don't see why so many people say this game isn't for the casual player. I have always found this game extremely fun to just pop in and play a match a few times a day.

1 Point off for extremely negative community. Just likeThis is still the best MOBA/Team Brawler out there. Personally I'm ready for a new game to take this genre to the next level but for now DOTA 2 is on top. Also I don't see why so many people say this game isn't for the casual player. I have always found this game extremely fun to just pop in and play a match a few times a day.

1 Point off for extremely negative community. Just like League, you are best just ignoring chat all together unless you know your team mates. You can still be a team player anyway. But this is just one of those games that needs to really put their foot down, hire a couple dozen game monitors to watch games and ban trolls.... because it feels like you're playing with a bunch of terrorists a lot of times.

Overall 7 out of 10. Best moba out there, but without innovation it's getting old.…Expand

A game with great intentions and implications, but falls down flat in turn to the player's experience.

With fair graphics and abundance of free heroes to choose from, Dota 2 will definitely capture the attention of dedicated and devoted players. However, casual players beware, as the smallest mistakes in Dota 2 will punish you deeply, and with even the slightest wrong selection of yourA game with great intentions and implications, but falls down flat in turn to the player's experience.

With fair graphics and abundance of free heroes to choose from, Dota 2 will definitely capture the attention of dedicated and devoted players. However, casual players beware, as the smallest mistakes in Dota 2 will punish you deeply, and with even the slightest wrong selection of your hero from the selection screen may set you to play out a long, inevitable defeat, as the games' balance is centred around heroes countering each other. If you are to look over the incredibly high skillfloor (new players of the genre may find this game somewhat even stressing at times), you might set yourself up for a game that you might find exciting and rich.

Lastly, I recommend that you do not listen wholeheartedly to the critics so endorsing Dota 2. You must play the game to see if you really like it, because what they tell you, I -will- completely guarantee you that you will find a rather different experience actually playing the game, whether the experience for you would be exciting, or plain-right stressful.…Expand

Valve's version of Defense of the Ancients can either excite you to point where you feel like a God or as miserable as a worm with a fever. Why this discrepancy? Well, you play with 4 more ppl, and in this version of the game you don't have as many admin resources as DotA 1 used to have to prevent bad behavior from the players. This means that at a times you will end up playing with greatValve's version of Defense of the Ancients can either excite you to point where you feel like a God or as miserable as a worm with a fever. Why this discrepancy? Well, you play with 4 more ppl, and in this version of the game you don't have as many admin resources as DotA 1 used to have to prevent bad behavior from the players. This means that at a times you will end up playing with great ppl and having a lot of fun or the opposite, very rude and childish ones that can ruin a match really quickly and there is nothing you can do about it.…Expand

This Comunnity is garbage, nobody cares about you and they want you banned for being a new player. I've started playing with the bots them, noobs were a little more friendly, i had some fun with them, but this game still the same old warcraft III Dota

Just better graphics and sound effects, my friends are playing this game 10 hours per day like idiots, i can't undestand how they managedThis Comunnity is garbage, nobody cares about you and they want you banned for being a new player. I've started playing with the bots them, noobs were a little more friendly, i had some fun with them, but this game still the same old warcraft III Dota

Just better graphics and sound effects, my friends are playing this game 10 hours per day like idiots, i can't undestand how they managed to play something so repetitive that much and for such long time...

Now their memory are f***** up now, they lost many brain cells playing this…Expand

While it is a good multiplayer game in theory, it's actually a sub-par gaming experience in general because of the terrible playerbase and community, horribly flawed matchmaking system, blatant cashgrab events, and overpriced cosmetic market.

Dota 2 is a nice HD remake of the mod for Warcraft 3, Valve executes a somewhat simpler game-play than the original. The game offers full experience to every hero instead of paying to play the hero you desire. Of course, Dota 2 is enjoyable at first. After having playing the game for over 600 hours; the game contains various things I dislike. For example, the Quest tab is actually aDota 2 is a nice HD remake of the mod for Warcraft 3, Valve executes a somewhat simpler game-play than the original. The game offers full experience to every hero instead of paying to play the hero you desire. Of course, Dota 2 is enjoyable at first. After having playing the game for over 600 hours; the game contains various things I dislike. For example, the Quest tab is actually a tutorial instead of what I expected to be either a mini-campaign for all the heroes or a campaign containing back-story for the characters. But when I found that out I was simply disappointed even now. Some hero dialogues are plain lazy such as Tidehunter's lame level-up dialogues of eating sea-creatures. Furthermore, if you fail to do what a team-mate desires they will insult you; some will even ask you to simply quit playing Dota 2. Now, there is a report button but it requires multiple players to do so, but most of the time no one reports the unsporting player which this really disappointed me. Moreover, when you know you're going to lose (enemies are unstoppable, your defenses are destroyed, your items are basic, your level is low, etc) there is obviously no point in staying, unless you don't want to get reported or insulted by the bad community or get battle points and item drops (usually useless cosmetics). Beside of me 'bashing' this game, Dota executes well for playing with your friends in a full team or in a team match which you gain full communication. I highly recommend this as I often get a team that does not communicate well. Dota 2 should include significant changes in modes and add 'Fast Respawn Mode' as the mod has it and because it's longass waiting time is really frustrating. Although, I have not mentioned 'over-powered' heroes there is always a way to 'counter' them. Unless they counter you. Many may disagree with my review but this is simply my opinion of Dota 2. I am actually being kind to this game with its score (otherwise this might have been a 6 or 5) because it does keep me 'enjoyed' for some parts of the 600 hours I've played ever since the early beta.…Expand

This game is interesting and is nice for playing with friends. On the other hand, learning curve is hard and the community is full of very rude players. Prepare to be insulted during the first 5 weeks at least.

Also, games take usually 45 minutes, which is quite long and boring...

I have a serious problem with judging this game. While the game itself is the best PvP I have ever had in all my gaming life (25 years of gaming) it is the community where it fails horribly. The community in this game is awful. Some people should really be banned from playing this because they have psycholigcally brake at some point during the match and they start flaming everyone or theyI have a serious problem with judging this game. While the game itself is the best PvP I have ever had in all my gaming life (25 years of gaming) it is the community where it fails horribly. The community in this game is awful. Some people should really be banned from playing this because they have psycholigcally brake at some point during the match and they start flaming everyone or they find the scapegoat and blame him or her. This is a very repulsive experience and this is what pushed me away from this game. Also the matchmaking system fails. Sometimes you will get matched surprisingly weird with some guys not having a single clue what to do and how to play. There is a large number of matches where you will experience and utter stomp in either side.

Besides this the actual game idea and the combat system is simply genious - the best any game has ever delivered in PvP mechanics.…Expand

DOTA 2 is definitely an improvement from the original in terms of graphics, and accessibility. The gameplay is not much different but there are improvements. There is no story aside from character bios for the different heroes and item explanations. The lack of story and character progression can ultimately make the struggle feel pointless. However, the skill ceiling is extremely high, andDOTA 2 is definitely an improvement from the original in terms of graphics, and accessibility. The gameplay is not much different but there are improvements. There is no story aside from character bios for the different heroes and item explanations. The lack of story and character progression can ultimately make the struggle feel pointless. However, the skill ceiling is extremely high, and the variety of play styles one will encounter ensures that every battle will have different opportunities for successes and failures. These successes and failures can inform the player of correct and incorrect actions that allow the player to improve their ability by learning from them.…Expand

The 5 is more for the community rather than the game itself. Played 6 online matches of LH, all of them had:

1) Someone spamming Drow Ranger
2) At least one guy way too high on testosterone and usually quit midgame
3) people telling me how to play, sputtering utter madness at me when I apparently buy something useless
4) Using terms I've never heard of in a noob-training mode, likeThe 5 is more for the community rather than the game itself. Played 6 online matches of LH, all of them had:

1) Someone spamming Drow Ranger
2) At least one guy way too high on testosterone and usually quit midgame
3) people telling me how to play, sputtering utter madness at me when I apparently buy something useless
4) Using terms I've never heard of in a noob-training mode, like denying, rushing, jungling,

I really, really tried to get in the game, but it was about as newbie friendly as Dark Souls.…Expand

A mediocre attempt to cash-in on the success of DotA: All-stars that thrilled the masses. Not only did they fail to improve on the mechanics of the original but they failed to stay true to the original where it counted. Style and mechanics. The issue is that the development team lacked both Eul and Guinsoo, with only Icefrog there is little they can do. The interface is hard-to-read, theA mediocre attempt to cash-in on the success of DotA: All-stars that thrilled the masses. Not only did they fail to improve on the mechanics of the original but they failed to stay true to the original where it counted. Style and mechanics. The issue is that the development team lacked both Eul and Guinsoo, with only Icefrog there is little they can do. The interface is hard-to-read, the graphics blend together to create a kind of blurry mess, many mechanics were ripped out and placed into a "classic-mode" and many new items and mechanic changes have ruined the game for those of us who enjoyed the original. Fan boys rave about how "balanced" it is but it's no more balanced than any other MOBA.

9.5/10 gameplay wise, however it is the third point in this review that really kills the game and the reason I have stopped playing

5/10 for hero release rate (really how is there no techies or terrorblade yet after this long)
2/10 For region unlocked servers, in a game that REQUIRES communication at the higher levels of play to be successful, dota has failed at delivering that team9.5/10 gameplay wise, however it is the third point in this review that really kills the game and the reason I have stopped playing

5/10 for hero release rate (really how is there no techies or terrorblade yet after this long)

2/10 For region unlocked servers, in a game that REQUIRES communication at the higher levels of play to be successful, dota has failed at delivering that team play experience for any solo queue gaming (or even in my case, queuing with 2 other friends on average). People joining from other regions have latency problems and real communication problems that negatively affects the gameplay experience.…Expand

pro: - a variety of heroes with different skills (most of them have 4 while some have more)
- a strategy game
- features a report system
- graphics is nice
- have item sets
cons: - sometimes quite lag which causes "Poor network conenction has been detected,This game will not be score and game is safe to leave" >> therefore if any team play very well, the effort are wasted.
-pro: - a variety of heroes with different skills (most of them have 4 while some have more)
- a strategy game
- features a report system
- graphics is nice
- have item sets

cons: - sometimes quite lag which causes "Poor network conenction has been detected,This game will not be score and game is safe to leave" >> therefore if any team play very well, the effort are wasted.
- community can be improve
- has no section to grant player's demand (not item demand)
- a loop game

would be nice if IceFrog could create new hero. But i understand that a nice hero takes quite a long time to design and testing. Because a hero that is released too early wont be nice i guess…Expand

The game is good in general, but it has some quite major flaws, which kill all the fun about it.

First major problem is a conceptual one below-average dynamics resulted from RTS-style control, that is in fact not suitable at all for action games, which Dota is supposed to be. This game hasn't got a single reason to have RTS control, there are just a few heroes who have summons so youThe game is good in general, but it has some quite major flaws, which kill all the fun about it.

First major problem is a conceptual one below-average dynamics resulted from RTS-style control, that is in fact not suitable at all for action games, which Dota is supposed to be. This game hasn't got a single reason to have RTS control, there are just a few heroes who have summons so you may need RTS conrol in it. This game originally as Dota on Wc3 engine was born for Wc3 fans as a custom map, just to have fun in between common games. It definitely doesn't deserve a standalone game and especially as a competitive one. Just because its idea doesn't fit its technical implementation. There're dozens of creeps running around, but you still control only one hero and a courier for your items. That's not a game for RTS control.

This problem results in low dynamics, there's no intensity in any "action" in the game apart from teamfights (which occupy no more than 10% of game time) and occasionally laning (early phase of the game when you're supposed mostly to kill creeps and force your enemies back). The majority of time is a "positional war" with 1-2 heroes in a team farming creeps to get items and eventually to carry the game. Rare tactics (which are hardly seen on a competitive scene) can include fast-push (taking down towers and rushing for enemy base from the first minutes) or very massive gangs (killing enemy heroes) to suspend enemy development. They are not effective and there's nothing done by developers to improve the situation, just not to break a fragile close-to-balance state.

The second major problem of this game is it being unbalanced. There are almost always a few (~10 out of 100+) heroes in the game that are holding the trend. You may see them is 80% of the games. And there are about 30% of heroes that are almost never picked. In some patches you may even have one hero that may alone carry the whole game even if player puts no effort in playing, unless enemies have a strong counter-pick and act almost flawlessly to negate a single hero's power. And that's after about 8 years (since IceFrog took the game and made it "serious") of constant development and balance improvements. Due to its 'overcomplexity' any patches applied to the game can change the situation only in terms of which heroes exactly are most picked/most winning but not the rates, but there are still 60% winning rate for some heroes and 40% for others.

Third problem (a lesser one) is non-friendliness for newcomers. It's difficult not only to master the game, but also just to get a motion in a right direction. And no guides can actually help you. Your performance while you are a newcomer is determined by whether you have an experienced friend in a voice chat who will constantly explain you every single detail of any action you are going to take, should it be picking a hero, leveling skills, getting items or acting in fights. You can forget about learning how to play this game even as a below average player before you put about 1000 hours in it, unless (as stated before) you have a trainer (a really skilled trainer) who's going to teach you any time you play.

Also, the game is overestimated as a competitive one. Most professional gamers you can see on a top-scene were playing it for at least 4 years. The majority were playing it since early Dota1 for more than 6 years.

The fourth problem is its community, which is (and always was for some reason I can't explain) extremely unfriendly and aggressive. This adds negative experience equally for newcomers and for veteran players. Assuming that even after almost two years of beta-testing there's still no adequate matchmaking system (it's not developers' fault by the way, the "skill" in this game is too vague to determine it even manually, what can we say about automated system) it results in a big gap in skill among players that are matched in the same game which itself results in players constantly insulting each other based on their performance.…Expand

I can see why people enjoy it, but its not without its flaws. For a start, the learning curve is pretty aggressive, and sadly when you play, prepare to be matched up with really good players who will stomp you to death. More needs to be done in order to ease new players in. LoL is of course its direct competition, and I would say LoL does a better job at handling new players. At a higherI can see why people enjoy it, but its not without its flaws. For a start, the learning curve is pretty aggressive, and sadly when you play, prepare to be matched up with really good players who will stomp you to death. More needs to be done in order to ease new players in. LoL is of course its direct competition, and I would say LoL does a better job at handling new players. At a higher level I have no idea as I was bored of the game pretty quickly. If your not into MOBA I guess this will not change your mind.…Expand

For the 7 hours I played it, I really enjoyed it. It is very well balanced, meaning that a very casual gamer like me still has a chance against a die hard PVP fan, which is always the first thing I search for in a game.
I also like the 4on4 aspect of the game-not too much, not too little, just enough for 1 person in each lane and a "hunter" as I call it.
Would easily recommend, as I haveFor the 7 hours I played it, I really enjoyed it. It is very well balanced, meaning that a very casual gamer like me still has a chance against a die hard PVP fan, which is always the first thing I search for in a game.
I also like the 4on4 aspect of the game-not too much, not too little, just enough for 1 person in each lane and a "hunter" as I call it.
Would easily recommend, as I have done previously.…Expand

I'll be honest, the game itself isn't particularly bad. Having tried out the original, DOTA2 is somewhat more forgiving to newbies, allowing games against bots to at least practice on.

Graphically, it's not bad and there's a nice selection of heroes which is not too overwhelming like some MOBA games (here's looking at you LoL).
Obviously, the major issue with the game is itsI'll be honest, the game itself isn't particularly bad. Having tried out the original, DOTA2 is somewhat more forgiving to newbies, allowing games against bots to at least practice on.

Graphically, it's not bad and there's a nice selection of heroes which is not too overwhelming like some MOBA games (here's looking at you LoL).

Obviously, the major issue with the game is its fan-base, which comes across as a rather spoilt, repugnant brat... If you aren't quite up to their standard of playing, prepare to be barraged with insult upon insult. But these are issues that are pandemic to the genre itself, so doesn't really warrant marking it down, it's to be expected if you've actually made any attempt at checking a game out first...

All this aside, the games do get competitive, but in my opinion, this is the only real thing going for it, the constant thriving to beat the opponent. If you do not connect with the community in some way, then it's not a particularly enjoyable affair.

It's free though, so it's definitely at least worth a look, perhaps you'll love it, or perhaps you'll hate it... But if you haven't put any cash up-front, there's no harm either way.…Expand

Dota 2 is definitely a good game although it is not for anyone who is just starting out and definitely I would not recommend it to anyone who is new to the genre. The reason i have given it such a low score is that it is not new player friendly, after playing around 10 games being paired with people with such a wide range of skill levels I feel the matchmaking needs an improvement and evenDota 2 is definitely a good game although it is not for anyone who is just starting out and definitely I would not recommend it to anyone who is new to the genre. The reason i have given it such a low score is that it is not new player friendly, after playing around 10 games being paired with people with such a wide range of skill levels I feel the matchmaking needs an improvement and even though i prefer LoL I understand that a game like DOTA 2 takes time to learn how to play but unfortunately not everyone can tolerate being beaten for the first 5-10 games.…Expand

While Dota 2 is a fundamentally good game, it has its share of issues. The most notable of these is its absolutely horrible community -- possibly one of the worst I've ever encountered. However, it would be wrong to let the players impact the actual game's score. The REAL issue with Dota 2, though, is its overwhelming complexity. There are 112 heroes at the time of writing (107 playable),While Dota 2 is a fundamentally good game, it has its share of issues. The most notable of these is its absolutely horrible community -- possibly one of the worst I've ever encountered. However, it would be wrong to let the players impact the actual game's score. The REAL issue with Dota 2, though, is its overwhelming complexity. There are 112 heroes at the time of writing (107 playable), and each has a minimum of four skills. This means that there are more than 448 skills which you need to memorize the function of just so you won't be at a disadvantage when facing off against someone using them. Then you have to get a grasp of the highly complex mechanics, and various strategies that take a long time to learn. There are also over 100 items in the store, the purchasing of which varies from one hero and situation to the next. Again, Dota 2 is simply too complicated for its own good. I shouldn't have to read a freakin' textbook just to play a game!…Expand

Dota 2 is based on team work so don`t complain about the comunity , you play with friends not random players if you want to enjoy the game.The only way the random players matches get beter is if valve do a paid ranked matches system or if the game wasn`t f2p. The main problem of this game is the gameplay balance once a team has 50% more kills the level and the items are to advance so theDota 2 is based on team work so don`t complain about the comunity , you play with friends not random players if you want to enjoy the game.The only way the random players matches get beter is if valve do a paid ranked matches system or if the game wasn`t f2p. The main problem of this game is the gameplay balance once a team has 50% more kills the level and the items are to advance so the only way to win is if they atack 1 by 1 or your team has a numeric advantage for 5 vs 5 they will allways win with 3 players alive so the xp or money system needs balance. Also the money system needs to allow to store the gold in your spawn or send it via courier. As for hero balance there are some overpowered ones and you can lose the game just by picking the wrong hero so that to my is not competitve because you can`t pick a hero in use by other player , the game shoud allow players to pick any hero . The ranking system is very permissive to leavears and often if you play with random players 2-3 are leavears and you are force to play 2 vs 5 or 3 vs 5 , that is not fair and shoud not be scored also the leavers punish by 1 weak to 4 weak bans.…Expand

DotA2 is very much a mixed bag. They did a fairly good port regarding graphics, aesthetics and general feeling of DotA1 is in there. The game is wonderful when you get into a good game, with opponents and team mates equal of your skill. However, the game is a horrible experience when you don't. And that's the main problem of DotA2. This game has almost 0 infrastructure to support it, toDotA2 is very much a mixed bag. They did a fairly good port regarding graphics, aesthetics and general feeling of DotA1 is in there. The game is wonderful when you get into a good game, with opponents and team mates equal of your skill. However, the game is a horrible experience when you don't. And that's the main problem of DotA2. This game has almost 0 infrastructure to support it, to get you into those good games.

The most important part, the matchmaking, is utterly horrible and doesn't deliver. Also its is so non-transparent that its impossible to know anything about your game before hand. Valve doesn't seem to care about this which is very problematic. Because without a good drafting the MOBA genre is a horrible experience which degenerates quickly into a flame fest stomp which just sucks.

Also it lacks ranked play and a way to distinguish they players who are out for a casual experience or others that want a competitive approach to DotA. Putting these two types of play styles together always results in a flame fest. Valve has not solved this. And the flame fest is probably what will alienate new players from the game genre. Valve hasn't put in a adequate system to handle this. The report system they have installed is rather used to report bad play than flame fest which, of course, further will alienate new players.

So my conclusion is: Great gameplay when it works but the disastrous matchmaking and drafting severely maims this game. 4/10. Free to play, so try it... but don't expect a great experience.…Expand

The game itself is fantastic and should receive a score of 9/10 or even 10/10. On the other hand, there are several other aspects that are highly detrimental to the overall experience.

- Broken matchmaking system. You can queue a long time (5-10 minutes after a couple of declines/failed loading/game dodging) and you are rewarded a match that is completely imbalanced. Short queue timeThe game itself is fantastic and should receive a score of 9/10 or even 10/10. On the other hand, there are several other aspects that are highly detrimental to the overall experience.

- Broken matchmaking system. You can queue a long time (5-10 minutes after a couple of declines/failed loading/game dodging) and you are rewarded a match that is completely imbalanced. Short queue time should mean more balanced matchmaking, but you'd be hard pressed to see the difference. Enjoy the frustration levels go through the roof as you can easily play for several hours without winning a single match. Matchmaking is broken even further because of battalions of smurf accounts and matchmaking system fails to evaluate these accounts properly. After wasting 30-45 minutes of your life in a match that was impossible to win in the first place, don't think it's over yet as you will most likely get fountain camped. And there you are, basically held as a hostage in the game unless you want low priority queue because of abandoning the game.

- There is no ladder nor any skill rating except for high and very high matchmaking pseudo-brackets. Makes sense, because the matchmaking works so poorly.

- The player community is one of the worst out there. In EU servers despite English language selection, you will frequently get players from Eastern Europe and Russia that spam the chat with their own language. Even if there are no language problems prepare to get scapegoated, called names and reported for ridiculous reasons if someone else in your team thinks you did something wrong.

- To combat armies of trolls there is a senseless reporting system with forced mutes and low priority queues. Every player has two reports available every week, and considering quality of the community, you're probably out of reports in a day or two. You get the worst of both worlds, not being able to report enough of the misbehaving players and on the other hand you can reported and punished without a valid reason. There are commendations too, but they don't mean anything.

- Instead of improving the essential game content, Valve rather concentrates on making new hats. Just kidding, they don't even make the cosmetics themselves.…Expand

I like some of the graphics, but other parts are too dark, too murky and make it impossible to see what is going on. Some of the character art is amazing, but some is just bad for no reason. The shop system is too complex and should have been much improved from DOTA.

gameplay wise..this game does beat out other MOBA in the general 5v5 terms. However it doesnt expand beyond this and the matchmaking system..since the beta release has seen 0 improvement. It takes about 3 minutes to find a game and usally find yourself paired with heavily unbalanced teams that usually results in a one sided facerolling. Overall still fun but the matchmaking ...has seen nogameplay wise..this game does beat out other MOBA in the general 5v5 terms. However it doesnt expand beyond this and the matchmaking system..since the beta release has seen 0 improvement. It takes about 3 minutes to find a game and usally find yourself paired with heavily unbalanced teams that usually results in a one sided facerolling. Overall still fun but the matchmaking ...has seen no attention from Valve nor do they seem to be willing to devote attention to it…Expand

Okay, If you like DOTA 2, that's fine...If you like MOBA games, that's fine. If you like FREE MOBA games with a lot of characters with many different play styles, That is absolutely fine. But the second you try to defend the multiplayers community, then we need to start having a serious chat!! Now I do own a copy of DOTA 2 and I do enjoy bot matches as 'Venomancer' and I do OK on harderOkay, If you like DOTA 2, that's fine...If you like MOBA games, that's fine. If you like FREE MOBA games with a lot of characters with many different play styles, That is absolutely fine. But the second you try to defend the multiplayers community, then we need to start having a serious chat!! Now I do own a copy of DOTA 2 and I do enjoy bot matches as 'Venomancer' and I do OK on harder difficulties. I decided to go over to multiplayer one time and I ended up 0-2. The hate I got that game was horrific. I thought this was just a one off so I tried another match, I ended up not killing or getting killed for a while, and the comments started coming again, and again, and again, and again... This game to put it easily is a 2-sided coin. On one hand the game can be enjoyable if you find a character you can use effectively, however the community is honestly the worst gaming community I ever had the utter misfortune of playing with or being part of, if your not perfect instantly you will be hated. I'd say since the game is free, it's worth the price for the offline mode but that's it…Expand

It's legitimately a shame the way valve has chosen to handle this game. The game has tremendous potential, yet it is utterly squandered in the way they handle it. The game has been out of beta for some months, and honestly, was never quite ready to come out of it In my opinion. They prioritized the shop over finishing the hero roster, improving the matchmaking, or adding some sort ofIt's legitimately a shame the way valve has chosen to handle this game. The game has tremendous potential, yet it is utterly squandered in the way they handle it. The game has been out of beta for some months, and honestly, was never quite ready to come out of it In my opinion. They prioritized the shop over finishing the hero roster, improving the matchmaking, or adding some sort of competitive ladder. To make matters worse, the communication from valve is literally non existent, and there has been no meaningful content update since july. I don't personally care about halloween events, but you're telling me you create one for tf2 and even cs go over dota 2? That's not the way you support a game that at this point is just trying to get started. On the whole the game is good, but valve's lack of support is appalling. I really want to rate the game higher than this, because as a game it is very good. It's just a shame it's being handled in such a poor manner. I have well over 1000 hours at this point, but just lost faith in valve's ability to deliver any sort of meaningful content. Don't add more hats, don't update the store. Finish adding the heroes, improve the matchmaking. Add a ladder. Finish. The. Damn. Game.…Expand

In the beginning public matches are fun, but there is not much teamplay and alot of blaming. When getting the hang of it the funfactor rises but even if doing everything right there is always someone trolling, solo playing just to get items and doesn't even care to speak english on an english server.
I think to be able to get the most out of this game is to play in a teamAddicting

In the beginning public matches are fun, but there is not much teamplay and alot of blaming. When getting the hang of it the funfactor rises but even if doing everything right there is always someone trolling, solo playing just to get items and doesn't even care to speak english on an english server.
I think to be able to get the most out of this game is to play in a team with friends, but publlic is still an addicting experience though with alot of problems mainly no or rarely teamplay.…Expand

It's fun for a while, although gets repetitive after a while due to there being only one map. There are MAJOR balance issues, which makes the game utterly irritating to play, not to mention the god-awful "community". All in all though, pretty fun game.

After playing the first DotA, the transition wasn't too big for me. I've now played 1000 hours and feel that I can write a fair review. I'll keep this short, simply listing the positives and the negatives.

The Positives:
Endless of hours of gameplay
Endless combinations of heroes
Special game modes for holidays
Easy to set up games with friends, to play with each other or againstAfter playing the first DotA, the transition wasn't too big for me. I've now played 1000 hours and feel that I can write a fair review. I'll keep this short, simply listing the positives and the negatives.

The Positives:

Endless of hours of gameplay
Endless combinations of heroes
Special game modes for holidays
Easy to set up games with friends, to play with each other or against other teams
Beautifully crafted
Awesome contributions of items from the community

The Negatives:

The community. Some people are just real a-holes.
The matchmaking feels incredibly broken at times. You either demolish the other team or you get demolished. It is rare to get opponents with equal skill level.
Language barriers: This mostly concerns russians that don't speak a word of english and they don't care what you say if they happen to speak english. I've learned more russian profantiy from this game than I care to admit.
You can almost count the heroes with "skill shots" (e.g. sacred arrow, hook etc.) on one hand.
Smurfing. Players that already have hundreds of hours played create new accounts to be matched against newbies. This will ruin games for beginners.
A ladder is sorely missed for many players. This would enable better match making and for teams that don't play on a professional level some time in the spotlight too.
Sometimes too much focus on items and customizability than on gameplay and updates of core mechanics.

As you can see, the majority of the problems that this game suffers from are the community. Valve has taken some steps to solve this (e.g. choosing preferred language in games, choosing lane from character selection), but it rarely gets to the core of it, namely, player stupidity.

That being said, this game is best played with five friends against other players, or just playing in house games with a larger group of friends. If you play this solo and never played DotA before, get ready to be flamed and discouraged to learn the game. The new coaching feature is for you.…Expand

Pros:
Great graphics/interface
Easy matchmaking
Sucessful ported game from dota 1
Cons:
Colision system is so high
Camera distance very low
Heroes are visual polluted
Battle is very polluted, you need take a good look to understand wath is happening
Matchmaking system fails
Lack of local player baning system
The given priority to cosmetic itens
Were is the dam raking system,Pros:
Great graphics/interface
Easy matchmaking
Sucessful ported game from dota 1

Cons:
Colision system is so high
Camera distance very low
Heroes are visual polluted
Battle is very polluted, you need take a good look to understand wath is happening
Matchmaking system fails
Lack of local player baning system
The given priority to cosmetic itens
Were is the dam raking system, no rank no moba valve!…Expand

Okay, I am very Mixed about this game. The reasons are that whilst it is a very polished and deep MOBA it lacks certain features that attract me to MOBAS as one of my favorite Genres. SO without further adue, let me begin.
Okay so first up I want to talk about the good in this game. The classes are varied and each feels like it has an important role. The items pack a punch and a fedOkay, I am very Mixed about this game. The reasons are that whilst it is a very polished and deep MOBA it lacks certain features that attract me to MOBAS as one of my favorite Genres. SO without further adue, let me begin.
Okay so first up I want to talk about the good in this game. The classes are varied and each feels like it has an important role. The items pack a punch and a fed character FEELS fed. The map design is flawless with multiple levels of height with ramps needed to access them, however characters with a jump ability etc. can jump straight down. It's things like this IMO that make a good MOBA. Also, match making is very fast, which is great. No matter what time of day it is I get a match in a few seconds.
The next thing, and this is where I am going to get into the negatives, is where I want to talk about the learning vurve (which is what frustrated me the most). When I play a Moba I personally like a locked on camers, if I want to look around etc. I will disable it for a few seconds to do so. However, Dota 2 is lacking any kind nof lock on camera, you can spam a button to simulate it but that is hardly practical. Also, the community are like a pack of hungry wolves waiting for you to slip up. This discourages new users, and if you're looking at this game as a new player wanting to try it, go play LoL, or even better, Smite.
My last, and most ANNOYING peeve i have about this game. The god damn freaking camera movement. Not only is there no lock on camera, but you can't even use the arrow keys to look around, you have to move your mouse to the edge of the screen. This would often kill me as a ganker would kill me before I could move my mouse to order a move command.
All in all this is a great MOBA but a very hardcore one, and if you want MOBA and FUN to be in the same sentence, do not play this game. If you are more serious then you will love it, or if you're a bit of both. You will have mixed feelings. It all comes down to your personal preference.…Expand

This is quite hard game to rate correctly because there are matches for which you would give 10 and matches that you would give 0.

First some context. I have played thousands of hours in dota 1 and dota 2 on very high skill level. I have reached around 5k MMR in sequel without even trying. I didn't play much in stacks 5vs5, but most of the times solo or with single friend. Dota 1 hadThis is quite hard game to rate correctly because there are matches for which you would give 10 and matches that you would give 0.

First some context. I have played thousands of hours in dota 1 and dota 2 on very high skill level. I have reached around 5k MMR in sequel without even trying. I didn't play much in stacks 5vs5, but most of the times solo or with single friend. Dota 1 had excellent, skill based gameplay. It lacked decent matchmaking platform with rankings and blacklists. Player base was low therefore waiting for games was long, especially on high skill level. Engine had it drawbacks, but it didn't affect gameplay much. Also it was impossible to reconnect to the game if you suddenly lost your connection.

Valve fixed lots of issues present in dota 1 and ported wonderful gameplay intact. Now we have new engine which lead to game mechanics clearance, reconnect option, fast game search and better graphics. However most important thing which was decent matchmaking platform was not provided.

Currently at 5k MMR very often you get 3-4 games in a row where you can't do anything because your teammates decided to feed. If you get this type of players you are doomed. You can't kick (you could in dota 1 ex. via vote), you can't forfeit (again like in dota 1). You have to play with them for the rest of the match which is usually 30-40 minutes or else you will be punished and put in LPQ. Basically sit and suffer (what a fun!). In addition you can't blacklist those players therefore if you queue again there is high chance you will play with them again. Last thing is that matchmaking sometimes puts solo queuers against stacks (premade group of players). I don't even have to mention how unfair games like this can be. There is no visible ranking system which for me is a con.

Except matchmaking I have to mention that overall game development in dota 2 was and still is very, very slow. Heroes and updates are released once in few months. There are no new maps. This is probably due to old source engine which will be replaced next year. Anyway there is no excuse. It took Valve many years for something that was made with few modders in warcraft 3. That's a shame. But you have hats, at last if you care about cosmetics.

So to summarize. Wasted potential. Overall it is good old addictive dota 1 gameplay with some upgrades/downgrades around it. Still you would expect more for a sequel to such an aged game and I think overall the cons outweight the pros. In dota 1 you had to wait longer, but received quality matches. In dota 2 match quality is far worse so overall it is worse game. It is a shame and disappointment to see such a good game turned into this.…Expand

This game is pretty good but i own too much no real challenge in this game... 6000 rating and i only play meepo which is considered the hardest character, but hey this game is totally easy and fun. I guess this is a kids game

I wanted to give this game a 9 out of 10 due to the good graphics compared to other MOBA games, huge character selection you can get immediately, and good tutorial as well as the interactions with the character that we chose. However I found that this game has a huge flaw which is deny creep system. Why? Because the one that can deny creep better will definitely win the game especially theI wanted to give this game a 9 out of 10 due to the good graphics compared to other MOBA games, huge character selection you can get immediately, and good tutorial as well as the interactions with the character that we chose. However I found that this game has a huge flaw which is deny creep system. Why? Because the one that can deny creep better will definitely win the game especially the solo lanes. The solo lanes gets more experience and then able to outlevel all other players and just making plays all over. So basically this game is "who can deny creeps more" in the early stage of the game. Indeed this is the redeeming feature of the game itself but I feel this feature is not necessary. However it is undoubtedly a great game and recommendable for anyone who likes hardcore mind-games.…Expand

Dota 2 as a game is very well made, however the community is where its hit the hardest. Most of the players are rude, unwelcoming to the newbies and often report them for feeding (intentionally dying to help the enemy) which has numerous consequences. If the community was to be improved, I would gladly give this game a higher score, however as most of the players are insincere I have toDota 2 as a game is very well made, however the community is where its hit the hardest. Most of the players are rude, unwelcoming to the newbies and often report them for feeding (intentionally dying to help the enemy) which has numerous consequences. If the community was to be improved, I would gladly give this game a higher score, however as most of the players are insincere I have to give this game a 5, not bad, but not great either.…Expand

After almost 1 year or more since it got out of the beta, the game has released about 3 major content updates.

The innovation is lackluster if you want a moba that gets constant updates and improvement to their graphics/gameplay/performance / new content, this game is not for you, is the same game it was 2 years ago, literally nothing new maybe 3-4 heroes.
If you like constantAfter almost 1 year or more since it got out of the beta, the game has released about 3 major content updates.

The innovation is lackluster if you want a moba that gets constant updates and improvement to their graphics/gameplay/performance / new content, this game is not for you, is the same game it was 2 years ago, literally nothing new maybe 3-4 heroes.

If you like constant updates youll better go search another mob.…Expand

Well, I must be honest. I think it's very childish to abuse metacritic just because you guys are angry for the event. But, I admit that this is a community reaction and the community had a big part to make DOTA2 such an awesome game.
I believe that VALVE should handle this more carefully. You just can't ignore the community asking millions of questions about Diretide. If VALVE couldWell, I must be honest. I think it's very childish to abuse metacritic just because you guys are angry for the event. But, I admit that this is a community reaction and the community had a big part to make DOTA2 such an awesome game.
I believe that VALVE should handle this more carefully. You just can't ignore the community asking millions of questions about Diretide. If VALVE could explain what their plan about Diretide2013 is, the reaction wouldn't be that harsh. So I hope VALVE learns from this, and pays more attention (even to the childish part of it, yeah) to the community.…Expand

Is a good game on every level BUT is stupidly build around and infinite number of entry barriers for new players. Learn to play is sickening but if you do you will enjoy for sure. Also, there's that, you don't enjoy Dota 2 until you really mastered it wich is a bad thing, Imo.

Only the graphics are good, the SLOW animations, and heroes that seem to be desing with no balance in mind ruin the game.
You will often find people complaining about heroes, they may be balanced in the numbers but there are many skills that are mechanically OP, like traveling the whole map to hit someone and then lock them in stuns with a RGN stun ability.
Huge lack of balance while inOnly the graphics are good, the SLOW animations, and heroes that seem to be desing with no balance in mind ruin the game.
You will often find people complaining about heroes, they may be balanced in the numbers but there are many skills that are mechanically OP, like traveling the whole map to hit someone and then lock them in stuns with a RGN stun ability.
Huge lack of balance while in other mobas you can only find maybe 1 or 2 OP characters that are then rebalanced.…Expand

Of course this is the best MOBA at the moment, but still not perfect with balance, users->development communications and in-community atmosphere. There is a strong commercial orientation, that covers with "hatz" but still this is a main object of Valve(ita obviously, i know). Why this isn't 10 out of 10? 1) TOO MANY insulting "pro" kids in every game, and there is no way to avoid them orOf course this is the best MOBA at the moment, but still not perfect with balance, users->development communications and in-community atmosphere. There is a strong commercial orientation, that covers with "hatz" but still this is a main object of Valve(ita obviously, i know). Why this isn't 10 out of 10? 1) TOO MANY insulting "pro" kids in every game, and there is no way to avoid them or punish. 2)There is no any(!) ladder system for players, just some brackets system that hidden. 3)Too strong orientation for professional scene, but 99% of players(like me) just playing non pro games, so what is the reason to re-balance game with patches which one is good only for pro?
So 7 out of 10 if fair at the moment.
I hope this game becomes 10/10 very soon =P…Expand

Dota 2 is nothing more than an attempted effortless cash in by Valve. You wanted a fresh new game with lots of new ideas that gives you a real reason to improve at it and come back every day to play? Well TOO BAD.

Instead all you get is
- original DOTA with a new coat of paint
- questionable art direction
- EXTREMELY SLOW gameplay and matches
- NO RANKING SYSTEM
- a community thatDota 2 is nothing more than an attempted effortless cash in by Valve. You wanted a fresh new game with lots of new ideas that gives you a real reason to improve at it and come back every day to play? Well TOO BAD.

Instead all you get is
- original DOTA with a new coat of paint
- questionable art direction
- EXTREMELY SLOW gameplay and matches
- NO RANKING SYSTEM
- a community that is nothing but trolls that will literally trap you in the environment to troll you
- A TERRIBLE report system that simply counts the number of reports against a player and eventually punishes them in some minor way for 5 minutes
- A complete lack of literally ANY originality, no new ideas, systems, modes, maps or anything else folks!
- A god awful tutorial that does nothing to go into the much more important and deeper mechanics of the game
- A lack of ANY WAY to concede the match so 9/10 games you'll end up sitting in your base for 10 minutes watching the enemy very slowly get closer.

In short, as I previously mentioned, DOTA 2 is nothing more than a redone version of it's original with nothing to offer and certainly no reason to keep going back to play it unless you're a troll.

If you want a decent MOBA game and LoL is too easy, shallow and casual for you then I HIGHLY recommend you try out "Heroes of Newerth" the best, most complicated, competitive, skillful and unique of the MOBA genre with a lot more to offer than this!…Expand

Please back 6.77 patch, or please back Disassemble and Active for 'Tranquil Boots'
Please back 6.77 patch, or please back Disassemble and Active for 'Tranquil Boots'
Please back 6.77 patch, or please back Disassemble and Active for 'Tranquil Boots'
Please back 6.77 patch, or please back Disassemble and Active for 'Tranquil Boots'
Please back 6.77 patch, or please back Disassemble andPlease back 6.77 patch, or please back Disassemble and Active for 'Tranquil Boots'
Please back 6.77 patch, or please back Disassemble and Active for 'Tranquil Boots'
Please back 6.77 patch, or please back Disassemble and Active for 'Tranquil Boots'
Please back 6.77 patch, or please back Disassemble and Active for 'Tranquil Boots'
Please back 6.77 patch, or please back Disassemble and Active for 'Tranquil Boots'
Please back 6.77 patch, or please back Disassemble and Active for 'Tranquil Boots'
Please back 6.77 patch, or please back Disassemble and Active for 'Tranquil Boots'
Please back 6.77 patch, or please back Disassemble and Active for 'Tranquil Boots'
Please back 6.77 patch, or please back Disassemble and Active for 'Tranquil Boots'
Please back 6.77 patch, or please back Disassemble and Active for 'Tranquil Boots'…Expand

terrible community, new heroes take forever to release and all that's being released are unnecessary cosmetics, seems to me that valve just cares about making money. On the bright side, it's free to play and has really good gameplay. Certainly the best moba game there is right now.

Dota 2 score should be split into 2, first should be about the game and I think it'sbrilliant... but it's not the game for a solo player as myself... if you have a group of friends to play it... you will all like it and maybe even win some cash in Dota2 tournaments... this part I'm giving 10

And there is the other side: community and match making. Valve does not pay any attention toDota 2 score should be split into 2, first should be about the game and I think it'sbrilliant... but it's not the game for a solo player as myself... if you have a group of friends to play it... you will all like it and maybe even win some cash in Dota2 tournaments... this part I'm giving 10

And there is the other side: community and match making. Valve does not pay any attention to match making and sometimes it feels like all dota players are russians... you play on US servers: all rusians, you play on europe servers: all russians... you play on south africa servers: all russians. Valve should do something about that problem... but I think DOTA2 is becomming official russian sport like starcraft in south korea. If you are a noob player you will hear unpleasant comment about your parents and your relatives...

Community side of the game is so terrible that its hard to give DOTA2 any fair score... the game itself is brilliant and requires a lot of teamwork... if you dont have a good team... you can still get sucked into this game and even after being shouted and hearling bad stuff about your mother... you will keep playing it and maybe even enjoy it.…Expand

Before I start, I would like to say that I have spent about 2000 hours on the game, and that I quit it about 4 months back.
Your opinion on this game is based on whether you play it for hours and hours or not.
The game itself is a well made standalone version of the famous warcraft 3 map. The detail put into the heroes is amazing(Graphic & Audio wise), but still, some fail to live up toBefore I start, I would like to say that I have spent about 2000 hours on the game, and that I quit it about 4 months back.
Your opinion on this game is based on whether you play it for hours and hours or not.
The game itself is a well made standalone version of the famous warcraft 3 map. The detail put into the heroes is amazing(Graphic & Audio wise), but still, some fail to live up to their war3 counterparts.
And that's about all of the nice things I have to say about the game.
It's graphics(not hero design) look dated. But that's not so important.
You see, this is a team based game, and unless you are going to play with friends, you can bet you're going to get matched with someone who doesn't speak the language you queued up for. The amount of toxicity in the community is insane, and the only counter to it which VALVE have so far is a simple mute, which only ruins the game for people who get matched with the muted player. The game also has an inexcusably huge amount of unfixed, confirmed bugs, if I recall correctly, the number is about ~800.
Also, ever since The International 2, VALVE have been extremely slow with hero updates(Prior to the The International 2, there were updates that had as many as 3 heroes in them, all coming out each week), while still pushing out cosmetic updates week after week.
This games learning curve is steep, and you MUST invest time in watching tutorials, streams, trying out things in a lobby(on top of actually playing the game) if you want to make any sort of progress with it.
This, in my opinion, is not bad, but it is very intimidating for newcomers.
And with this I'd like to end my review of the game.
But no matter what I say, this game is still going to grow, and so is it's playerbase. Let's just hope the future is brighter.…Expand

After 200 hours i got bored. Maybe I don't like the moba genre. You only have fun if you win. So 50% fun and 50% not fun, especially on a losing streak. This is a very repetitive game. You play on the same map all the time. There is no point in leveling, you don't unlock anything cool. It just gives a treasure box. Winning mmr and then you lose all the mmr you gained, it feelsAfter 200 hours i got bored. Maybe I don't like the moba genre. You only have fun if you win. So 50% fun and 50% not fun, especially on a losing streak. This is a very repetitive game. You play on the same map all the time. There is no point in leveling, you don't unlock anything cool. It just gives a treasure box. Winning mmr and then you lose all the mmr you gained, it feels like you wasted your time. Dota 2 needs more maps, game modes, and custom games.…Expand

I think the game itself is fun but its not for people who are new to gaming cause, while it may sound good, all characters are free which is overwhelming and the tutorial doesn't give you much help. I'm a big fan of LOL so i thought that Dota 2 is an easy to understand game but even i was confused. Although the graphics / platform are better looking, I would say LOL is more. ( LOL isI think the game itself is fun but its not for people who are new to gaming cause, while it may sound good, all characters are free which is overwhelming and the tutorial doesn't give you much help. I'm a big fan of LOL so i thought that Dota 2 is an easy to understand game but even i was confused. Although the graphics / platform are better looking, I would say LOL is more. ( LOL is also gonna upgrade the graphics to a much better state next season so if you like better graphics both games are actually the same, LOL is just a bit late.)…Expand

Firstly I would like to give this game a fair score as many user scores have been extremely high or low.
The Good: Dota 2 has a great art style and sometimes the game-play can be quite fun if played with people you know/ can communicate easily with. As well as having some rewarding play whilst playing
however
The Bad: Dota 2 has possibly one of the worst communities ever as well as oneFirstly I would like to give this game a fair score as many user scores have been extremely high or low.
The Good: Dota 2 has a great art style and sometimes the game-play can be quite fun if played with people you know/ can communicate easily with. As well as having some rewarding play whilst playing
however
The Bad: Dota 2 has possibly one of the worst communities ever as well as one of the most frustration learning curves ever. The controls are "meh" at best (mostly relying on clicking). It has a weird lock on system which even turned off is still present and will cause many a frustrating death. As well as this the game only has one map which seems lazy considering it is not too hard to make a balanced map. Speaking of balanced the game is not ex actually balanced, although it may be argued that everything can be countered, at a low level this is unknown and therefore the players who choose the most common characters such as zeus and drow ranger will always dominate the game and therefore will progress further up the learning curve. As well this the matchmaking is a bit of a mess.…Expand

When it comes to actual gameplay, DOTA 2 is my MOBA/Arts/Aeon-Of-Strife Type Game(No one cares about the genre name, get over yourselves) of choice.

This is the only truly "Free To Play" game in this genre; you start off with every hero in the game, there's no rune system that benefits those who buy rune pages/boosts/play more than you do, and all in-game store items are purelyWhen it comes to actual gameplay, DOTA 2 is my MOBA/Arts/Aeon-Of-Strife Type Game(No one cares about the genre name, get over yourselves) of choice.

This is the only truly "Free To Play" game in this genre; you start off with every hero in the game, there's no rune system that benefits those who buy rune pages/boosts/play more than you do, and all in-game store items are purely cosmetic. On top of that you can actually win cosmetic items for the heros just by playing the game.

I will not discuss the actual gameplay in great depth Plenty of people do that already, suffice to say that it has the most complex mechanics out of any Trilane-based game. The engine works very well, looks great, and lacks the issue of "spell clutter" often found in a game like Leage of Legends, where so many spells are going off in huge, obnoxious colors it's hard to know what's going on In general, once you know what to spot in Dota 2, you can analyze team fights with ease.

Whether its gameplay is better or worse than LoL, in my opinion, is personal preference to how difficult you want the basic game mechanics to be, and how casual of a player you are if you like competitive, hardcore gaming, Dota 2 is better suited to you. Both games are smooth, work well, look good, and offer satisfying gameplay, but for a different crowd.

There is a huge caveat though that I feel the need to mention, where this game lacks behind its competitors; The community, the leaver system, the matchmaking, the lack of region locks, and the HUD, altogether, make what should be an incredible gaming experience an incredibly frustrating one.

Leavers are quite rare in League of Legends. They are generally heavily penalized and most people avoid them at higher summoner levels, because of the level of time investment necessary to get a free account to such a high level, the length of bans due to leaving too often, the tribunal system, and how active the community is in using its report system and enforcing it.

The community, as hard as it is to believe, is actually worse in Dota 2 than in any other MOBA I have played, In part because of all the other issues mentioned. Integrated microphones without region locks mean people from Russia will queue as teams on American servers, not speak english, and talk in russian all game, or curse at you in english and just troll all game. A limit of 2 reports a week, which can only result in a global mute for a short period of time (and quite rarely) does absolutely nothing to deter trolls and leavers. When someone leaves a game, after 5 minutes, everyone can start leaving the game without any consequence, and whoever is left over will decide whether it's a win or a loss. Meaning some dude on your team rage quits, after 5 minutes 2 other members of your team leave, and you're instant loss.

The Matchmaking is absurd. I've played matches with people who have more than 10 times the games I've played, and people with 10 times less games than I've played, on the same team, in the same match. (100 wins 10 wins 1000 wins, for example, same team). And the gap of game knowledge is beyond apparent, it's gross and it reinforces the negativity of the community due to frustration from the new player for playing inadequately and probably being berated by his team, anger at the experienced player for losing his time, and a negative atmosphere for absolutely everyone else in the game.

One of the biggest failures in this game, is that for a game that claims to be much more suited around competitive play, it surely should have a scaling HUD, like LoL does as a casual game? Guess what, no. No it doesn't. The HUD is The size of it and pure amount of dead space blocking your screen gives you severe disadvantages when approaching situations from certain angles. Also I cannot count on 2 hands the amount of times I right clicked on the minimap while escaping from enemies (playing Radiant) and turning around and running back into their team. I've never done this in LoL, ever.

In the end, it doesn't matter if it's the best MOBA I've ever played mechanics wise if 1 out of 2 games are incredibly unpleasant to participate in because of these issues. And while I respect Valve and Icefrog for being focused on balancing above all else, not taking active measures to make the community better, and being purely passive about accepting such negative and counter-productive behavior, will eventually kill everything but the most hardcore of fans.

5/10. Only worth playing for hardcore fans of complex, deep MOBA systems Those with little time to waste, casual players, or those with difficulty dealing with trolls/leavers/bad attitudes should look elsewhere for a more fun-oriented, lower stress MOBA.…Expand

I used to feel as though this game had a lot of potential, but as I played more and more and as the beta opened to the public my opinion dwindled to unpromising.

Unless u can form a team of five players that can sink hundreds of hours practicing, copying proven item builds and strategies from successful teams, and picking favorable hero line ups together then this game is not going toI used to feel as though this game had a lot of potential, but as I played more and more and as the beta opened to the public my opinion dwindled to unpromising.

Unless u can form a team of five players that can sink hundreds of hours practicing, copying proven item builds and strategies from successful teams, and picking favorable hero line ups together then this game is not going to be much fun.

Trying to play in pub games where u are matched up with other random players usually ends up in unbalanced games that are no fun. Also as the game is open to the public the community has gotten worse and the frequency of bad games has increased.

The game needs to be more flexible with hero line ups and item builds because after playing for a while u start to notice only certain line ups and builds work well which makes the game boring and repetitive.…Expand

This game had a good start, then it slowly became something else. I just don't understand why did Valve seem to abandon this game. The developing process has became really slow, but the worst thing is that they REFUSE to communicate with the community. I used to love everything Valve does, but nowadays it's just like they are a different company in a very negative way.

a year and a half ago this game did deserve a 10/10 score. everything was fine, bugs were fixed (slow but it was something), communication through blogs, the dev forum and social media, Heros were added at a semi regular basis (2-4 Heros in 3 months) and Icefrogs balance patch did kick in in a 6-9 months pattern.
The only thing we have left is Icefrogs Balancea tl;dr is below.

a year and a half ago this game did deserve a 10/10 score. everything was fine, bugs were fixed (slow but it was something), communication through blogs, the dev forum and social media, Heros were added at a semi regular basis (2-4 Heros in 3 months) and Icefrogs balance patch did kick in in a 6-9 months pattern.

The only thing we have left is Icefrogs Balance patch. Valve doesnt communicate anymore, the bugfixing is so slow like never (fix 3 bugs and create 15 others) and we had 2 Heros in 8 Months (and we still need 10 to complete the pool).

i dont really care for Diretide (or the greevling at christmas) but these 2 Funmods where relaxing after some tough normal matches. but the fact that Valve doesnt communicate and doesnt work on DotA 2 anymore is unaceptable! yes Valve has its own way to work on projects but this half assed we get now is just a big YOU in the face to the Community! DotA 2 is the MOST played game on Steam with more than 5 times the players the second place has.

tl;dr

i wont recommend playing now! this game doesnt deserve a 10/10 or a 05/10 score... it deserves a -10/10 score. i never did think that i would say this but: League of Legends as it is now is by far the superior game.…Expand

Love this game but the people who are in charge of making it (valve) seriously do not know how to handle a game like this. They need to figure out that in a game like this, it is not only essential but absolutely necessary to communicate with your customers or you will soon find out that you will have none. They have seriously made no attempt to tell us, theGreat Game, Horrible Company

Love this game but the people who are in charge of making it (valve) seriously do not know how to handle a game like this. They need to figure out that in a game like this, it is not only essential but absolutely necessary to communicate with your customers or you will soon find out that you will have none. They have seriously made no attempt to tell us, the players, anything at all and it's too much at this point. Diretide 2013 was pretty much guaranteed and they let all the hype build up until the 31st where they still say nothing, and no Diretide is released. Honestly this lack of communication is damaging this game and Counter Strike somewhat died in the same way. This isn't the first time valve has been lazy too. They used to port heroes like crazy but now you rarely see one hero get added every 5 months. Bugs are everywhere, and they haven't attempted to improve ranking in the game at all. They are still adamant on hiding our ranks despite showing them in CS:GO, which is solid evidence that showing ranks will not cause everyone to simultaneously freak out and blame valve and their teammates and rage every match (Earth to Valve, this is happening already because everyone thinks they are pro and the matchmaking pretty much matches anyone together at this point).

I'm giving this a fair rating.

The game itself: 5/5

People in charge of running this game that are responsible for updates, bugfixes, new content, and old content that needs to be ported over from dota 1: 0/5…Expand

So,I've been playing DOTA since about 6 years.When I heard Valve was making the sequel with IceFrog,I just couldn't wait.The game itself delivers REALLY WELL.You will easily lose count of time spent.Recommended for strategy/MOBA fans.

T*here are only two downsides to this game.
1)
+T+
*here's a steep learning curve if you are new to this subgenre.Better learnt with a friend whoSo,I've been playing DOTA since about 6 years.When I heard Valve was making the sequel with IceFrog,I just couldn't wait.The game itself delivers REALLY WELL.You will easily lose count of time spent.Recommended for strategy/MOBA fans.

T*here are only two downsides to this game.

1)
+T+
*here's a steep learning curve if you are new to this subgenre.Better learnt with a friend who knows the game.

*2)Valve has a 'No Communication from developers' policy for the main part.To fully enjoy the game,think that the game is developed by Robots who will not care about what you think.

All in all I'd have rated it a 9/10.But ,mark my words,this is an AMAZING game.…Expand

I have to give Dota 2 a solid 7. The game is fun, it's impressive. It's not any more original than Dota 1. I have more fun playing league of legends. It takes less time to get into matches. The voice function in Dota 2 complete sours the experience because half the players are from a different country-I'm cool with that. I know how to call you a in russian, spanish, and Brazilian now,I have to give Dota 2 a solid 7. The game is fun, it's impressive. It's not any more original than Dota 1. I have more fun playing league of legends. It takes less time to get into matches. The voice function in Dota 2 complete sours the experience because half the players are from a different country-I'm cool with that. I know how to call you a in russian, spanish, and Brazilian now, thanks Valve! Either that, or someone being genuinely helpful most of the time is lagging the game out with their mic spam about the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. You can't surrender. that made me lower my score to a 6, no lie. You should play this game, but it's not for everyone.…Expand

6. Why? Not really because of absence of diretide but the lack of responsibility for your community.
That's why the mark is six and it's obviously
6. Why? Not really because of absence of diretide but the lack of responsibility for your community.
That's why the mark is six and it's obviously
6. Why? Not really because of absence of diretide but the lack of responsibility for your6. Why? Not really because of absence of diretide but the lack of responsibility for your community.
That's why the mark is six and it's obviously
6. Why? Not really because of absence of diretide but the lack of responsibility for your community.
That's why the mark is six and it's obviously
6. Why? Not really because of absence of diretide but the lack of responsibility for your community.
That's why the mark is six and it's obviously
6. Why? Not really because of absence of diretide but the lack of responsibility for your community.
That's why the mark is six and it's obviously…Expand

This is rate of valve work, dont want add heroes, dont want make new modes, dont want fix bugs, only stupid items and disbalance patches. Valve, think about this and do it better. So waiting for work from valve

What can I say? I fell very disappointed of DoTA 2.
That game simply can't make you pay attention. Almost zero achievements or rewards for playing, boring characters with unbalanced abilities and pointless hindrances. And the biggest flaw of all: THERE IS NO SATISFACTION AFTER WINNING. I know, some ideas are quite good (delivering items), graphic is done well as the music, but why shouldWhat can I say? I fell very disappointed of DoTA 2.
That game simply can't make you pay attention. Almost zero achievements or rewards for playing, boring characters with unbalanced abilities and pointless hindrances. And the biggest flaw of all: THERE IS NO SATISFACTION AFTER WINNING. I know, some ideas are quite good (delivering items), graphic is done well as the music, but why should I play something that gives me no fun? With such a competition like League of Legends or Smite, I have no reason to play DoTA 2...…Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view.
Why you guys are acting like Just because some of them started to play Dota 2 now? By the way, if you are a Dota 1 player, YOU NEVER GOT AN EVENT, so why are you crying like little girls?

Yeah everyone is raged about Diretide is not comming, and we know Volvo is a bunch of idiots and Gabe Moneywell wants only Money, but, for one side, you don't care about it and you have the D2L or Dota2WH to own your itens or trade. Who the said community is worse? No one cares about this If you're raged, remember you have Christmas, Greevling event, and takes too long. You don't know what is hidden from Valve, and all of us know who is killing that is the ****ty posts of Cyborgmatt.

Give another oportunity or give up, i will give another chance, because if you like one game, you should keep on it until the end.…Expand

I've spent nearly 2000 hours playing on this game. Sometimes i get frustrated (and by sometimes i mean almost every time) but when i get into a normal match with normal people whos temper doesn't go through the roof and where everyone is nice enough to not say something stupid i enjoy the game greatly. It's very entertaining and a great time killer, i agree the community is very hostile toI've spent nearly 2000 hours playing on this game. Sometimes i get frustrated (and by sometimes i mean almost every time) but when i get into a normal match with normal people whos temper doesn't go through the roof and where everyone is nice enough to not say something stupid i enjoy the game greatly. It's very entertaining and a great time killer, i agree the community is very hostile to each other but there are some few people out there who is kind and helpful to the newbies. The game needs alot of work but it certainly does a good job entertaining me.…Expand

i am really really disappointed with my team right now
Never In my entire life have I witnessed a worse community revolving around a video-game than the one that is to be found in Dota 2. The players are: Egotistic, ego centric, unsporting, aggressive, hostile, uncaring, mean, mistrusting, immature, callous, apathetic and incredibly pretentious while at every loss prompting everyonei am really really disappointed with my team right now
Never In my entire life have I witnessed a worse community revolving around a video-game than the one that is to be found in Dota 2. The players are: Egotistic, ego centric, unsporting, aggressive, hostile, uncaring, mean, mistrusting, immature, callous, apathetic and incredibly pretentious while at every loss prompting everyone inside the current game to "Report player X" if someone on their team was even remotely new to the game or did any other action not sanctified by them, be it going in what lane you want, not purchasing courier/wards or simply just had an unlucky run/getting cross-classed. Along with being completely miserable to be around, they frequently never speak the language in the region you're playing and nowhere else is this more apparent when russian is spammed into the chat at all times on European zones from 3 different sources at once. And if people do know English, trolling is nothing short but assured from all directions to all teams.

Second biggest problem with this game would be the elitist mindset that orbits anyone that has played this atrocious game for more than a couple of hours. Any behavior that breaks the typical dota 2's hardcore player routine of buying tango, healing salve and iron branches, perhaps with some boots of speed if they're feeling adventurous will result in a wave of F-bombs, intentional feeding, votes of surrender, spam prompts to report player X and disconnecting users as far as the eye can see. I even had cases where players left the game because some guy forgot to buy a courier at the start of the game. And that's me overlooking the fact that killstealing off your TEAMMATES is considered average behavior/a common tactic. In LoL, you can even report people for "being unskilled". As in, anyone. Even if they're level 1.To put it bluntly, MOBA's like dota 2 give out a special kind of disgusting behavior that makes me feel physically ill for very good reasons.

Coming close to problem number 2 is the third epic fail problem of this game. The match-making in Dota 2. Broken, poorly thought through and executed horribly. You are prompted to select a variety of regions before initiating the match-making system and the more regions you have selected, the less waiting time..

Which begs the question, what is the point with the regional system if you're just gonna encourage people to sign up for all regions? The end result will be that nobody sticking to their geographical zones and not only causes frustration in the form of people trying to communicate and chat with eachother in the chat as described above but also disallows any kind of vocal text tactical communication since everyone does not speak the same language. In all honestly, this game is overloaded with issues just like this and I would be able to overlook this particular embarassing design-flop if it wasn't for the actual hard functionality of the MM as well being broken. The scenario on where 4-5 organized people in a group, all sitting in ventrilo/teamspeak while packing thousands of hours in Dota 2 each have a very likely possibility to be "teamed" up against new players with less than 10 hours with no complaints from the match-making system (even if there is a very large queue) throws out any chance of that. This happens particulary often if you decide to try the game out with a friend or two which leaves me with yet another question: The purpose of match-making was to find equally skilled opponents. So why is this even remotely possible? Team-based games with a mandatory MM are supposed to be fair. Not Tyrannosaurus rex VS a duckling. I'm reluctant to say that Dota 2 even has a match-making at all once you look at all the facts.

Even with all these problems, I could actually see myself overlooking them at a certain time during a year due to the sheer amount of possible combinations in this game with heroes & items and the addictive quality the game has if it wasn't for all the other flaws.

The commitment to play DotA MOBA's however, is the biggest flaw of them all that this game inhibits. It changes whoever plays the game as a person. For the worse. Why? Because the game inhibits "addictive" qualities similar with that of jamming needles full with endorphin into your spine every half hour. It's painful, it hurts your emotional stability, it hurts you as a person and it hurts the people around you and for what? A small kick of pleasure/self satisfaction as you managed to win a fundamentally unbalanced game with an emphasis on gank above all else due to chance or otherwise pre-meditated "pubstomping"? Not worth it in so many ways since at the end of the day, Dota 2 will never be fully balanced because Valve will be split between tournament-balances and casual or the "normal" version of the game while repeatedly adding more and more content in the form of heroes.

I could keep on going with design flop after design flop but at the end of the day,…Expand

I've played 8 years of Dota and recent events have prompted me to write this review.

Let me get this straight: I love this game. I love the community. I love the tourneys, comics, broadcasters, chickcasters and everything about the game.
What I hate: Valve Corporation, and I don't want you to wait 8 years to realise this. So read on.
1. Valve is more interested in selling youI've played 8 years of Dota and recent events have prompted me to write this review.

Let me get this straight: I love this game. I love the community. I love the tourneys, comics, broadcasters, chickcasters and everything about the game.

What I hate: Valve Corporation, and I don't want you to wait 8 years to realise this. So read on.

1. Valve is more interested in selling you cosmetic items and maintaining the Dota 2 economy than the actual game itself.

2. Valve has selective hearing when it comes to the Dota 2 community which is based upon the same community that build WCIII DOTA in the first place.

3. Valve does not have a habit of keeping Dota 2 players abreast with the latest developments. At the time of writing (Nov 6, 2013), the last Dota 2 blog post was on September 19.

4. Valve hosts one of the most lucrative tournaments and supports smaller tournaments, but they can't get this right Team Logos and Team Banners. Players have been complaining about this for nearly a year. Shouldn't Valve be trying to help teams? Aren't they the key to a robust competitive scene?

5. Valve has prostituted the beloved Icefrog the man that single-handedly made ARTS/MOBA what it is today. Icefrog no longer communicates with the community. That is sad.

6. Valve implemented a terrible tutorial system that doesn't help me bring new players into the game. They should take a page out of LoL.

7. Valve doesn't see a need in improving the MMR/report system, or are hiring really stupid people to do it. They should take a page out of LoL.

8. Valve somehow thinks that a ladder system is not important. This means that there are times that my five man stack meets absolutely new players. I don't think they are going to play Dota 2 long if they keep getting stomped.

9. Valve has no qualms going back on its word. They said that Diretide is an annual event. They lied. No apologies, even for those who have spent a lot of money on their product. That sucks. That is UNPROFESSIONAL.

Alright would-be Dota 2 players. You have been warned. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to click on the FIND MATCH button.…Expand

I love this game, been playing it since it launched 3 years ago and since then valve has been great at improving the game and have done fantastic work advertising dota 2. They have also always looked at the needs of their fanbase and always have lived upto their promise but this year they have failed to live upto their word by not releasing diretide which was supposed to be an annualI love this game, been playing it since it launched 3 years ago and since then valve has been great at improving the game and have done fantastic work advertising dota 2. They have also always looked at the needs of their fanbase and always have lived upto their promise but this year they have failed to live upto their word by not releasing diretide which was supposed to be an annual event. The gameplay is still good and they are working hard every day to launch new items and fix the bugs and introduce new heroes and ways to increase the community but they also have to look at what their fans are expecting of them.…Expand

Dota 2 is certainly a very interesting game for it's genre, with the major attraction being that you get pretty much all of the content up-front, free of charge.

Whilst you may purchase an advantage in earning points for your in-game profile via the use of 'Battle Point Boosters', this cannot be looked at as a form of 'pay to win', as all the points do is increase your level. IncreasingDota 2 is certainly a very interesting game for it's genre, with the major attraction being that you get pretty much all of the content up-front, free of charge.

Whilst you may purchase an advantage in earning points for your in-game profile via the use of 'Battle Point Boosters', this cannot be looked at as a form of 'pay to win', as all the points do is increase your level. Increasing your profile level gives you both a random item and the ability to find even rarer items (Not to mention the bragging rights that come with such.), It should be noted that no item in Dota 2 gives you an advantage, or disadvantage during actual game-play. This makes it one of the more worth-while free to play games out there.

On the other hand, Dota 2 has a very steep learning curve, and some may be turned away from the challenge of learning how to play. The genre of this game itself is a very small one, and this has led to a lot of confused newbies to the game. A tutorial was added into the game to help the player learn, but doesn't necessarily go into enough detail for some.

To sum it up, Dota 2 is a free to play game that manages to steer clear of the ever-dreaded 'pay to win' issue we quite often come across in other free games. However, the game comes with a very steep learning curve that requires you to really get into the game and learn in your own way through trial and error.

Dota 2 receives a 6/10 from me. It's not bad for a free to play game, but it's not the shiniest penny out there, either.…Expand

completely free to play, all you have to pay for is cosmetics.
+ more than 100 heroes already available
+ really deep game mechanics gives good re-playability even with 1 game mode available.
- no ladder or ranking system (its a problem for competitive game IMO)
- the commend/report system is more annoying than really helpful
- only 1 game mode, all you can change is the hero pick completely free to play, all you have to pay for is cosmetics.
+ more than 100 heroes already available
+ really deep game mechanics gives good re-playability even with 1 game mode available.
- no ladder or ranking system (its a problem for competitive game IMO)
- the commend/report system is more annoying than really helpful
- only 1 game mode, all you can change is the hero pick phase (no custom maps or rules)
- if you play good, you will be forced to have bad teammates, so everyone has 50% winrate
- development of this game almost completely stopped a few month ago, all we have is new hats and some minor GUI changes.
- the game still missing some heroes from orignal dota.
- despite 6.79 patch, lots of heroes are still unbalanced compared to others.…Expand

Great game but the abandon rules are ridiculous. Just got a 24h ban because i arrived a few seconds after the 5 min limit since my game crashed and didn't restart in time and therefore got an abandon and a loss, even though i returned and won the game.

Re-review. I tried to get into Dota 2. I can get past the gloomy graphics and all the vocal toxic players but I simply don't have fun Dota 2. Owning people in dota2 doesn't feel good. The animations in this game are smooth and look good, but skill sounds and animations don't make me feel good, there's just something missing in Dota 2. Honestly, I feel restricted, I feel like I'm playing inRe-review. I tried to get into Dota 2. I can get past the gloomy graphics and all the vocal toxic players but I simply don't have fun Dota 2. Owning people in dota2 doesn't feel good. The animations in this game are smooth and look good, but skill sounds and animations don't make me feel good, there's just something missing in Dota 2. Honestly, I feel restricted, I feel like I'm playing in a box and it makes the pace feel slow.

I have to praise it's item and stat system though. There are a of items with interesting actives. Also leads don't mean a lot, you can come back from anything and with buy-back unlike other MOBAs which have many games which are drawn out, boring, predictable, sometimes just a facepalm montage and tedious to play. This game has had tons of time and alterations so I doubt the balance is bad. I felt like I really wasn't giving it enough credit because I didn't enjoy it.…Collapse